Ather

The Referral Program is live in Bengaluru and Chennai – Extend privilege to friends and earn brownie points
Ather Energy has announced a Referral Program for the Ather 450 electric scooter. Currently exclusively on offer in Bengaluru and Chennai, the program will benefit existing and new customers with monetary credits worth Rs.2,500.

As a part of this new program, Ather Energy will allow its existing electric scooter owners to share a referral code with friends. In the event of any purchase made via this code, the referrer and new buyer will both receive monetary credits to the tune of Rs.2,500.
Along with India’s first lease program and referral program, Ather also introduced easy ownership with the exchange of any petrol two wheeler for the Ather 450. It also gains advantage of all fiscal incentives offered by the State and Central Governments while the Ather Forum of buyers have been the company’s strongest supporters and critics which has taking the company ahead in the race of electric scooters in the country.
The company has also confirmed that delivery periods have been reduced to 3 weeks. This could be another reason why buyers will find the Ather 450 a more viable purchase.

Ather Energy introduced the 450 electric scooter in 2018 which was followed by a new flagship model called Ather 450X in 2020. This e-scooter is presented in three colours of grey, green and white. It is powered by a 6kW PMSM motor with a 2.9 kWh battery pack and gets 4 riding modes of Eco, Ride, Sport and Warp. Under the Warp mode, the Ather 450X can accelerate from 0 to 40 km/h in 3.3 seconds making it the quickest electric scooter in its segment. Owners can opt for two performance pack options of Pro and Plus. Each pack is specifically designed to offer a range of connected and riding capabilities.
Features
Ather 450X gets a 4G SIM card, Wi-Fi connectivity with Bluetooth, a 7 inch touchscreen dashboard with colour depth of 16M and Snapdragon Quad Core processor. The e-scooter uses Android Open Source for map navigation while on board diagnostics and features include over-the-air updates, auto indicator off and guide-me-home lamps.
Tarun Mehta, CEO, Ather Energy
The mobile app offers ride statistics, charging status and navigation updates along with theft and tow detection and live location. Vehicle tracking, voice assist and welcome lamps are also a part of its features. The Ather App also allows the 450X to support accessories like smart helmets and tyre pressure monitoring system.
The Ather 450X can be charged via smart charging Ather Grids set up at malls, cafes, supermarkets and tech parks in Chennai and Bengaluru which will also be expanded to other cities. It was launched in India at a starting price of Rs.99,000. This price included the ownership of the scooter and for battery leasing. On the other hand if buyers wanted an outright purchase, the full price is at Rs.1.49 lakhs and Rs.1.59 lakhs for the Plus and Pro packs which excludes insurance and registration costs but includes the battery ownership.
Ather Energy CEO, Tarun Mehta has revealed on Twitter that the company will be expanding the Ather e-scooters to new cities. Hyderabad will get the new 450X in September while launch in Pune and Mumbai is planned by the end of this year. Ather Grid fast chargers will be set up across Ahmedabad with launch in Surat scheduled for sometime in 2021. More

Ather Energy is one of the biggest start-ups in the Indian auto industry, which started journey back in 2016
Today, Hero MotoCorp has announced an investment of Rs 84 crore (US $11 million) in Ather Energy. The latest finance push brings Hero MotoCorp’s shareholding in Ather to 34.58 percent. Prior to the fresh cash infusion, Hero MotoCorp’s shareholding in Ather Energy was 31.27 percent.

Hero MotoCorp has been associated with Ather since 2016 when it made its first investment as a part of Series B funding. The fund-raising measure had raised $27 million (Rs 202 crores) with Hero MotoCorp being a primary investor. The cash infusion was necessary to build a permeable charging infrastructure. Since the early days of the S340, Ather Energy has grown in many aspects.
In October 2016, Hero invested another Rs 180 crore for a 26-30 percent stake in Ather. By May 2019, that investment had grown to more than Rs 330 crore. The current investment is is an extension of Ather’s Series C funding in May 2019 that raised $51 million from multiple investors, led by former Flipkart CEO, Sachin Bansal.

Ather 450X electric scooter
Electric two wheeler/scooter market in India
The equity share increase is not altogether unexpected. While the country awaits an alignment of policies that boost EV adaption, manufacturers have already started making inroads. While electric cars are barely there, the electric scooter market is swelling. Traditionally, Hero MotoCorp is market leader when it comes to two-wheelers. But with sentiment softening towards environmentally sustainable options, Ather Energy proves to be just that.
Established manufacturers are free work with new tech based EV initiatives or are beginning work in-house. Either way, this development is dependent on a sizeable investment. Ather Energy has a distinct identity in the melee of new EV manufacturers with a solid backing from multiple investors.
Ather Energy is using funds for Ather 450X manufacturing, its currently solo offering in the market. Manufacturing will be increased to 100,000 units annually from a Hosur plant. Having started operations in Bangalore, and setting up the Ather Grid charging setups, the company then entered Madras. The company is headed to Hyderabad, Kochi, Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Coimbatore, and, other cities.
Hero Motorcorp and Electric Vehicles
Rajat Bhargava, Head of Emerging Mobility Business Unit (EMBU), Global Business & Strategy, Hero MotoCorp, said “We are excited to see the growth of Ather Energy in the recent years. We see immense potential for them to expand their market even further, especially given the likely growth of electric vehicles (EV) in the near future. In addition to our efforts of developing a robust external eco-system for EVs, we are also aggressively working on our internal EV program. Our aim is to provide accessible electric mobility to customers across the globe. Sustainability and clean, green environment remain central to our vision to be the future of mobility.” More